Bitcoin and Blockchain: Two Revolutions for the Price of One? - Richard Gendal Brown - "“Digital” money is not the same as physical cash. And the world’s financial plumbing – payments systems, correspondent banking, SWIFT, … – is a direct consequence of this observation: physical cash really is fundamentally different to every other form of money: only physical cash is a bearer instrument. And only physical cash can be transferred without permission – censorship-resistant. Or so we thought."

The Evolution of Money, From Feathers to Credit Cards - Smithsonian Magazine - “Our exhibit represents the opportunity to show the diversity and strengths of this collection and to excite people to think about history, culture and innovation through numismatic objects,” says curator Ellen Feingold. “We embrace the theme of innovation, but we also really embrace the value of monetary objects for learning about history.”

On the Wires:

American Express and Best Buy Team Up to Enable Card Members to Use Membership Rewards Points on BestBuy.com - "American Express and Best Buy today announce the launch of a new e-commerce technology integration that enables U.S. Card Members enrolled in the Membership Rewards® program to seamlessly use their points for online purchases on BestBuy.com. Starting today, Card Members can use their Membership Rewards points for all or part of each online purchase and either pick it up in one of Best Buy’s stores or have it delivered to their door."

MasterCard Extends Partnership with Samsung to Deliver Samsung Pay in Europe - “Samsung Pay is pleased to join forces with MasterCard to offer a simple and safe mobile payment experience enabled for wider merchant acceptance to MasterCard cardholders and issuers in Europe,” said Injong Rhee, EVP of Samsung Electronics, Global Head of Samsung Pay. “Both organizations are committed to ground breaking fin-tech innovations that will deliver on the promise of a true mobile wallet.”

Instant Access to Information Changing Consumer Search Patterns When It Comes to Choosing Banking Products - “As financial institution customers have more and more interactions with consumer brands that provide multi-channel communications, they will demand those same channels when it comes to their interaction with banks and credit unions,” explained Scott Wallace, vice president of marketing, Deluxe Financial Services. “We believe this survey shows that customers want multiple research channels and tools before they will engage their local branch to open a new account.”

TSYS and Acquirer Systems Launch ASTREX to Simplify EMV Certification Process - “By using our simulator tool, VARs and ISVs can gain an edge on the competition by bringing powerful and efficient EMV solutions to market faster,” said Craig Ludwig, head of product for TSYS’ Merchant Services segment. “This not only allows them to easily meet the rapidly approaching October 1 EMV liability shift date, but also affords them the opportunity to offer EMV support to their merchants in an expedited timeframe — increasing the quality of their clients’ overall experience.”

EU Files Antitrust Charges Against MasterCard Over Card Payment Costs - Wall St. Journal - "The charges, which follow a two-year investigation, are the latest step in a series of legal battles between the EU and U.S.-based credit card companies over fees. A parallel EU investigation into Visa Inc.’s card fees, opened three years ago, is ongoing."

CFPB Outlines Guiding Principles for Faster Payment Networks - “Companies developing new financial technologies should be building systems from the outset with consumer protections in mind,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “It is a lot easier to build something right from the start than it is to retrofit it. The CFPB will continue our work to help ensure that financial services marketplaces are safe and transparent for consumers.”

European Commission Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to MasterCard on cross-border rules and inter-regional interchange fees - Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "Many consumers use payment cards every day, when they shop for food, clothes or purchase anything online. We currently suspect MasterCard is artificially raising the costs of card payments, which would harm consumers and retailers in the EU. We have concerns both in relation to the rules MasterCard applies to cross-border transactions within the EU, as well as the fees charged to retailers for receiving payments made with cards issued outside Europe. MasterCard now has an opportunity to respond to our charges".

MasterCard Survey Reveals Americans Anxious about Personal Security but Optimistic About New Ways to Pay - "Our survey reveals there’s a sharp contrast between what people say or think they are doing to protect their information and what they actually do, but that’s understandable – we’re human,” said Carolyn Balfany, SVP of U.S. Product Delivery – EMV, MasterCard. “In today’s digital age, we need the strong combination of what we all can do ourselves to keep our information as safe as possible and what we are doing at MasterCard to bring the latest innovations in safety and security to our cardholders.”

Barclays Fires Chief Executive Antony Jenkins - Wall St. Journal - "Barclays said its nonexecutive directors wanted a new leader to change the bank’s strategy more quickly, and that Chairman John McFarlane would serve as executive chairman until a replacement is found."

Digital River Teams up with Global Mass Payments Provider Payoneer - "We’re excited about working with Digital River to help meet the growing demands of their merchants. Payoneer’s all-in-one mass payout services are an exciting complement for Digital River merchants challenged with the complexities of global payouts,” said Scott Galit, Payoneer’s CEO. “Payoneer is fully committed to helping Digital River clients capitalize on international market opportunities by enabling them to pay globally as easily as they do locally.”

Capital One Teams with Vantiv to Enhance Payment Processing Solutions for Merchant Services Customers - "Capital One is committed to providing the most innovative technologies to our business customers," said Colleen Taylor, executive vice president, head of Treasury Management and Enterprise Payments, Capital One Bank. "By partnering with Vantiv, our clients will now benefit from Vantiv's industry-leading payment tools and services, which are designed to help them focus on what they do best - running and growing their businesses."

Ink from Chase Unveils New Design and Enhanced Features of Mobile Application - “The new Ink app was designed with one goal in mind: to simplify backend office management for small business owners so they can focus on their business,” said Laura Miller, President, Business Card at Chase. “By giving small business owners the ability to easily, quickly and more efficiently manage their finances and the financial activity of their employees, they have more time to focus on their passion and grow their small business.”

U.S. Bank Selects Biller Advantage from Fiserv to Enable Business Customers to Send e-Bills, Accept e-Payments - “Consumers are looking for ways to simplify their finances and streamline their bill payment process. Our business customers want to meet this demand and offer consumers the best and most user-friendly billing and payment options,” said Sam Robb, senior vice president, U.S. Bank. “Biller Advantage from Fiserv will allow us to offer a multichannel EBPP solution to our business customers – a new offering that will allow them to more efficiently send bills and quickly accept payments."

IDEX Enters into a Strategic Worldwide Biometric Card Partnership with a Global Payments Company - Dr. Hemant Mardia, CEO of IDEX stated, “We are very pleased to have been selected for this global company biometric card initiative enabled by our compelling low cost, turnkey fingerprint sensor solutions. The program will commence development during 2015. This partnership is expected to enable IDEX to secure a leading position in this emerging mass market for fingerprint sensor based biometric cards.”

Adyen Mobile Payments Index reveals 36% of global mobile payments are now on iPhone - “The continued rise in popularity of the iPhone for making online purchases, coupled with the higher ATV from shoppers using iOS, suggest that businesses – especially those that classify themselves as premium brands – should target this valuable demographic in particular,” said Roelant Prins, Chief Commercial Officer, Adyen. “Apple Pay, as it becomes available in more markets, represents a great opportunity for businesses to fulfil this as it enables them to deliver a seamless payment experience to iOS users.”

Suspect in $55 Million A.T.M. Scheme Is Extradited to U.S. - New York Times - "Prosecutors said that hackers including Mr. Findikoglu wormed their way into the computer systems of financial institutions that process prepaid debit cards. Next, they said, the hackers significantly raised the withdrawal limits normally set for the cards, which are often used to pay employees or aid disaster victims."

Go New Places with PayPal and Uber - PayPal Forward Blog - "PayPal is now available as a payment option to Uber riders in Canada, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and Sweden."

Before paying with bitcoins… - Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information Blog - "In fact, the FTC has received hundreds of complaints involving bitcoins and other virtual currencies. The two most common problems? Online merchants who don’t deliver the product on time — or at all — and merchants who give refunds in store credit, rather than currency."

On the Wires:

Organization Announcement: American Express - "With that in mind, today I am announcing the realignment of several businesses and reporting lines in a way that leverages the strengths of our executive team to help us build momentum and capitalize on the growth opportunities we have across the company."

FICO Sees 25 Percent Jump in Cross-Border Fraud on UK Debit Cards in 2014 - "Criminals are now opting for card-not-present and cross-border fraud," said Martin Warwick, FICO's fraud chief in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "The alarming rise in cross-border fraud demands new technology, such as proximity location services that can identify whether the customer's mobile is in the same place where the transaction is occurring. The UK reduced cross-border card fraud from £230 million in 2008 down to £80 million in 2011. But cross-border fraud has nearly doubled since then, and it's time to get it back under control."

The Nilson Report: U.S. Household and Credit Card Debt 2014 - "Total household debt in the U.S. was $13.512 trillion at the end of 2014 and credit cards accounted for 6.52% or $881.57 billion, according to the annual report on credit card debt in the U.S. published by The Nilson Report, the top trade newsletter covering the card and mobile payment industries."

Auth0 Raises Series A Led By Bessemer to Take the Pain Out of Identity Security - “It’s now painfully obvious that insecure or incomplete authentication implementations are creating vulnerabilities, jeopardizing customer trust, and hindering enterprise adoption of cloud and mobile services,” observed VeriSign co-founder David Cowan, a partner at BVP. “So Bessemer is thrilled to partner with the best identity team in the world to deliver secure login as a service — as easy to use as Twilio, SendGrid and Stripe.”

Seamless Distribution AB: SEQR now live in the UK - “Launching SEQR in the US and the UK has been a top priority for us at Seamless. By offering a smart, adaptable mobile payment service, we’ve been able to attract some of the biggest operators in the market. Now that we’re starting to work with merchants and consumers, we’re creating the right conditions to be able to establish ourselves as the biggest mobile payments provider in the UK as well, a market with around 60 million potential customers,” says Peter Fredell, CEO of Seamless.

AmEx to Stop Merchant Curbs - Wall St. Journal - "After years of prohibiting merchants who accept its cards from steering customers to other brands, American Express Co. is lifting those restrictions."

The Current Tokenization Landscape in the United States - Take on Payments Blog - "Working with the Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup (MPIW), the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Payments Strategies group and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Retail Payment Risk Forum just released a comprehensive white paper on the current tokenization landscape in the United States."

Wences Casares: The Bitcoin-Obsessed Serial Entrepreneur - CoinDesk - "I truly believe that it may change the world more than the Internet did. I truly believe that [because of the] 4 billion people who live on cash today. It is the biggest step forward in the democratisation of money we've ever seen."

Apple's most important service is about to get so much better - Business Insider - "It's no coincidence Jennifer Bailey was chosen to be the first woman to appear on stage at an Apple keynote. As the VP of Apple Pay, she's in charge of Apple's most important service, which aims to revolutionize how we pay for goods."

Seamless Distribution AB: SEQR Now Live in USA - "We are now all set strategically and have more merchants on the way in. Many businesses are interested in mobile payments, which I also witnessed during my time at Visa, Monitise and PayPal, who are all investing heavily in mobile payments. But everyone has been waiting for a mobile payment solution that can be implemented easily and cost effectively. SEQR is that solution," says Daniel Bessmert, General Manager of SEQR in the U.S.

Glenbrook’s Elizabeth McQuerry is IPFA CEO - PaymentsViews.com (Elizabeth McQuerry) - "Glenbrook is delighted to announce that our partner Elizabeth McQuerry has been named to the position of CEO of IPFA, the International Payments Framework Association. IPFA will play an important role as real-time payments networks around the world start being connected in order to facilitate cross-border payments. Elizabeth will incorporate this work into her ongoing work with Glenbrook on a broad range of international payments projects".

NY Financial Regulator Lawsky Releases Final BitLicense Rules for Bitcoin Firms - Wall St. Journal - "The new rules, posted simultaneously on the Department of Financial Services’ website, require certain providers of virtual currency services operating in New York state—in particular, those with custody of customers’ funds and which exchange virtual currencies for dollars and other fiat currencies—to apply for a specially tailored DFS license."

Visa Inc. and Verifone Join Forces to Accelerate Omni Commerce Globally - "As part of the partnership, the companies will integrate industry leading platforms: Verifone will connect its point of sale gateway to Visa’s CyberSource global merchant payment management platform. This will provide merchants with a single platform to protect customer payment data, mitigate fraud, and integrate digital and offline payment systems."

Visa and FireEye Join Forces to Help Merchants, Financial Institutions Defend Against Targeted Attacks on Consumer Payment Data - "By combining Visa’s unparalleled view into global payments and FireEye’s industry-leading cyber security expertise, we intend to bring faster, actionable intelligence directly to players across the payments system,” said Charlie Scharf, CEO of Visa Inc. “Although we are leading efforts to render stolen data useless through smart technologies, data security remains foundational for merchants. We’re pleased to be working closely with FireEye, which has been at the front lines identifying and investigating some of the most significant compromises around the world, to provide critical cyber intelligence to merchants and financial institutions.”

MasterCard Becomes First International Payments Network to Enter Somalia - “Somalia has made significant strides to rebuild the country and instil peace and stability. Today marks a historic milestone, signalling Somalia’s financial liberation following years of being excluded from participating in the global economy,” says Abdirahman Yusuf Ali Aynte, the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation of Somalia.

Bitfinex and BitGo Partner to Create World’s First Real-Time Proof of Reserve Bitcoin Exchange - “We’ve been working with Bitfinex for several months and are impressed by their dedication to security for their users,” said BitGo CEO Mike Belshe. “The industry has been clamoring for exchanges to adopt the multi-sig model, and we’re proud that Bitfinex selected BitGo’s platform to do it. This new level of transparency and security makes breaches such as those of Mt. Gox impossible.”

American Express and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Enhance Cobrand Credit Card Benefits - “The SPG Credit Card from American Express has always been a favorite among travel insiders, and the new benefits will deliver even greater value to the ‘always on’ traveler,” said Eva Reda, SVP, Co-brand Partnerships. “We understand what our Card Members want most, and we know the enhanced card will offer the convenience and value they seek.”

The Gold Standard Just Got Better; American Express Launches New Dining and Travel Benefits for Premier Rewards Gold Card - “The Premier Rewards Gold Card is the card for people hitting their stride in life and defining their own success. They seek and strive for the gold standard in their personal and professional pursuits. They’re making moves in their careers, but also prioritizing family and friends,” said Lisa Durocher, senior vice president, Consumer Charge Cards & Benefits at American Express. “Whether they’re traveling, dining out or cooking at home, the Premier Rewards Gold Card now gives them even richer rewards, with the flexibility, service, and security they need to keep life moving forward.”

On Ed Gilligan - Medium (Megan Quinn) - "At best, startups are ignored and at worst, distrusted. Ed broke that mold. He was willing to pursue new ideas, take measured risks, run tests and lend some brand credibility and marketing power to fledgling companies doing interesting work."

The First Battle In The Mobile Payments War Is Over - TechCrunch (Dana Stalder) - "t’s been a tale of conflict, closed door bargaining, and one with a David vs Goliath subplot and huge fortunes at stake. Many watched and waited as PayPal and Google battled the oligopoly of the Networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex), only to be surprised by a twist ending."

Discover Doubles Cash Rewards for New Discover it® Cardmembers after First Year - "Starting today, Discover is extending an exclusive offer to new Discover it® cardmembers that doubles all of the cash rewards they’ve earned at the end of their first year for accounts that are open at the time of doubling. There are no limits on how much a cardmember can earn, and they can redeem in any amount, any time, and their rewards never expire."

Chase Mobile® App for iPhone® Introduces Touch ID™ - “We’re focused on making mobile banking faster and simpler,” said Gavin Michael, Head of Digital for Chase. “Touch ID has been the number one request of our customers – and we are excited to deliver it to them.”

PayPal: Powering the Potential of PYPL - PayPal Forward Blog - "I’m honored and thrilled that PayPal is returning to its roots as an independent company. In the second half of 2015 we’ll once again be publicly traded on NASDAQ with our original stock ticker symbol PYPL. This is a meaningful symbol for the company because it represents our unbroken commitment to the spirit of the original vision that sparked the launch of PayPal 17 years ago."

Distinction between online, offline blurs for shoppers, but not retailers: report - Mobile Commerce Daily - “We are quickly moving toward a point where there is really no ‘online’ or ‘offline’ if consumers are connected all the time,” said Kasey Lobaugh, Deloitte Digital’s chief retail innovation officer. “However, there’s a divide between the digital functionality retailers provide and the experience consumers want."

NTT Docomo’s Iris Scan Phone - Wall St. Journal - "Forget passcodes or fingerprint scans. Now you can unlock a smartphone with the blink of an eye."

On the Wires:

American Express Announces Exporting Program to Help Middle Market Companies Grow Globally - “Exporting represents a $928 billion opportunity1 for U.S. mid-sized companies2 over the next 10 years, yet only 17% of middle market firms currently trade internationally3,” said Susan Sobbott, president, Global Corporate Payments, American Express. “The Grow Global program is designed to help demystify the complexities of exporting, and help companies seize the opportunities available by tapping into markets outside the U.S.”

Sally Provides Update on Payment Card Investigation - “We believe it is in the best interests of our customers to alert them that we now have sufficient evidence to confirm that an illegal intrusion into our payment card systems has indeed occurred. However, we will not speculate on the scope of the intrusion as our forensics investigation is still underway,” said Chris Brickman, President and CEO.

Blockchain technology spells the end of middlemen - Canadian Business - "Blockchain technology’s potential beyond bitcoin is huge: It could replace the multi-trillion-dollar market in third-party verification services that underpins the modern global economy. Services and institutions that act as middlemen to facilitate and verify financial transactions, contract relationships, record-keeping and asset transfers could all be disrupted by blockchains..."

On the Wires:

New GSMA Report Finds That Latin America and the Caribbean Have Fastest Growth in Mobile Financial Services Globally - “Great progress has been made in deepening financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last three years,” said Sebastian Cabello, Head, GSMA Latin America. “The region has seen a major increase in the number of adults with bank accounts, however, approximately half of all adults in LAC still remain unbanked. Mobile money services are a powerful tool for expanding financial access in developing markets and will play a critical role in continuing to build a healthy digital financial ecosystem in the region.”

Accenture and Moven Join Forces to Transform Digital Banking Solutions - “We set out to change what the world thinks of as a day-to-day bank account, starting from scratch with mobile, and providing customers with advice on spending and savings,” said Brett King, Moven’s CEO and founder. “The alliance with Accenture will be invaluable in helping us mobilize our services globally as we grow to tens of millions of users in a dozen countries. Accenture's phenomenal footprint with the biggest banks in the world, combined with the digital and end-user experience from Accenture Interactive and Fjord, made it the only choice for this global alliance partnership."

Zoho Introduces ACH Payments in its Financial Suite with Forte - "Zoho is now able to offer their customers the ability to accept ACH/eChecks, credit and debit card payments quickly and with confidence using Forte’s robust processing services. In addition, each account includes unlimited access to Forte’s payment gateway, virtual terminal, online reporting and payment tokenization and storage services."

Plenti℠ – First US Coalition Loyalty Program Available Now - "Plenti members can use any form of payment that the partner accepts at checkout – cash, credit, debit or prepaid. This means that if they have a card product with other rewards benefits, they’ll earn those rewards in addition to the points collected through Plenti."

Visa Launches Online Toolkit to Educate Business Owners on Benefits of Chip Technology - “Chip technology will bring an important new layer of security for credit and debit cards by helping to make stolen account information useless to criminals,” said Stephanie Ericksen, vice president of Risk Products, Visa Inc. “It is a priority to increase merchant awareness and understanding, given a liability shift in October 2015, after which merchants who are not ready to accept chip cards may be responsible for counterfeit fraud.”

MasterCard Business Network 2.0: For U.S. Business Owners, It’s About Time…And Money - “Business owners have a split second to switch from being the CTO to the CFO to the CMO of their companies. MasterCard Business Network 2.0 helps save time by putting c-suite level information at business owners’ fingertips, all just a click away,” said Jay Singer, senior vice president of U.S. Commercial Products, MasterCard. "We give business owners the information they need, at the moment they need it, helping their businesses grow. And we are now offering these tools at significant savings."

FIS Reinvents Banking Access in India, One ‘e-Lobby’ at a Time - “Karnataka Bank’s mission is to serve our customers in a technologically savvy, high-quality manner,” said Sri. P. Jayarama Bhat, managing director & chief executive officer, Karnataka Bank. “Not only will FIS’ support allow us to better focus on our customers, it also will make us one of the first mid-sized banks in India to provide e-lobby access, extending more convenient access to our customers and allowing us to better compete with larger banks.”

MCX: Over Before It Starts, or Holding the Trump Card? - AFP Blog - "At the NACHA Payments 2015 Conference last week, Andy Shober, chief sales and business development officer for MCX, indicated that CurrentC will incorporate customer loyalty programs. This may give it a leg up on Apple Pay, which currently does not incorporate retailers’ private label cards."

Harbortouch is Latest POS Vendor Breach - Krebs on Security - "KrebsOnSecurity has recently heard from a major U.S. card issuer that says the company is radically downplaying the scope of the breach, and that the compromise appears to have impacted more than 4,200 Harbortouch customers nationwide."

Flywheel Now Lets You Pay For Taxis On A Mobile App - BuzzFeed - "Called “Pay by Flywheel,” the feature will allow users to take advantage of both the ubiquity of taxis and the convenience of mobile payments — and, therefore, act as a challenge to Flywheel competitors Uber and Lyft."

The ‘Ripple’ Effect: Why an Open Payments Infrastructure Matters - CGAP Blog - "Currently, banks conduct payments through intermediaries: third parties that move funds across disconnected networks. The reliance on intermediaries adds costs, additional counterparty and settlement risk, and time delays to payments. As a result, cross-network payments only work well for certain geographies and only for high-value transactions."

Chip-Card Rollout Has Banks, Retailers Scrambling - Wall St. Journal - "Some 575 million of the new cards—representing about three-quarters of U.S. credit cards and about 40% of debit cards—are expected to be in the wallets of American consumers by year-end, making it the biggest rollout of new cards in decades."

Why We Still Use Checkbooks to Pay the Rent - Bloomberg - "Despite the convenience to landlords and tenants of managing lease payments digitally, 70 percent of U.S. renters still pay by check, according to PayLease, another e-rent facilitator."

India Tech Startups: Seven Things That Blew My Mind - Re/code.net (Jason Del Rey) - "You’ll hear more from me in the coming weeks as I document my visit. For now, here’s some of the stuff that surprised this first-time visitor to India’s thriving tech scene."

Raytheon to Plow $1.7 Billion Into New Cyber Venture - Wall St. Journal - "Raytheon Chief Executive Tom Kennedy said the threat of cyberattacks such as the one suffered last year by Target Corp. is increasing as cloud computing and mobile services make companies more vulnerable to costly electronic intrusions by state-sponsored hackers, terrorists, organized crime or insiders."

Bitcoin Vs. Wall Street: A Love-Hate Story - TechCrunch - "Wall Street’s influence can bring bitcoin to the mainstream, and bitcoin can help bankers provide better banking services that are efficient and trustworthy."

On the Wires:

Capital One and Uber Partner to Bring Simplicity and Savings to Customers - "We're thrilled to partner with Capital One, a company that shares our vision of creating elegant, simple solutions to meet important consumer needs," said David Richter, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Uber. "Together, we'll provide a meaningful combination of savings and convenience to millions of customers."

AICPA Survey: One-in-Four Americans Victimized by Information Security Breaches - “The increase in data breaches affecting personal information has given consumers significant cause to be cautious about their activities, both online and off,” said Ernie Almonte, chair of the AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission. “Data breaches have the potential to seriously affect consumers’ finances and wreak havoc on their credit scores. The good news is that we are seeing Americans taking steps to safeguard their information and reduce their susceptibility to these attacks.”

Protect Your Bubble Improves the Customer Experience with Vindicia CashBox - “At Vindicia, we’re proud to be a part of the way Protect Your Bubble improves the experience of purchasing protection plans for consumers,” said Bryta Schulz, senior vice president of marketing for Vindicia. “CashBox overcomes the billing complexities that can frustrate consumers. Billing processes are more efficient with CashBox, but more importantly, it supports higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention.”

The Year Of Mobile Payments - TechCrunch - "Expectations have changed. The proliferation of mobile money services shows that people – even the unbanked – demand better than the lengthy queues, cumbersome processes, and high fees offered by the incumbent international money transfer “super racket.”"

Westpac boss sees NZ as innovation lab - New Zealand Herald - "Westpac Group chief executive Brian Hartzer has embarked on a mission to transform the bank into a world-leading service company, with the Kiwi operations playing a Trojan horse role when it comes to innovations."

GlobeOne Announces LOI with MetaBank to Bring New Mobile Banking Network to United States - "GlobeOne expects to launch in the United States and Mexico in the fourth quarter of 2015, and it will expand its integrated global network as new banking partners are secured around the world. GlobeOne’s innovative app will offer a no-minimum demand deposit account with debit card, a security savings account, a line of credit, domestic and international transfers between GlobeOne members, and access to the global income-building SocialBoost program, which gives members the opportunity to earn a new income stream while helping those who need it most."

WEX Virtual Payments Expands Currency Offering in Europe - Myles Stephenson, managing director of WEX Europe said, “We’ve listened to our customers’ needs and business challenges, and implemented a solution that provides even more cost-effective ways to make international payments. This update enables WEX Europe customers to pay their global suppliers in local currencies more efficiently.”

Entrust Datacard Enters Strategic Partnership with Financial Software and Systems (FSS) - Commenting on the partnership, Nagaraj Mylandla, managing director of FSS, said, “FSS has always been on the forefront of bringing new technologies to the payments domain in India. Today, banks in India are focusing on new technologies to build a deeper engagement with their customers. The hosted instant card issuance solution that we are introducing through our partnership with Entrust Datacard is one such technology that will assist banks in India to achieve service excellence.”

Square’s Jack Dorsey Puts It All Together - BuzzFeed News - "Once a media darling, he hasn’t spoken on the record to the tech press since a New York Times interview in December of last year. It’s not that he’s been hiding, exactly, but he has lowered his profile considerably."

PayPal, OFAC, and why regulators play rough - WePay Blog - "When OFAC comes down, they come down hard. In PayPal’s case, that multi-million dollar fine came as the result of less than $50K in transactions over a period of years."

Could the Chip Card Transition Lead to More Online and Small-Merchant Fraud? - n>genuity - Going forward, the trick will be keeping the checkout process both easy and secure, says George Peabody, a partner at Glenbrook Partners. "The challenge is friction from a checkout point of view. If merchants are looking for security perfection, then they are going to be turning away good sales."

Synchrony Financial Reports First Quarter Net Earnings of $552 Million or $0.66 Per Diluted Share - “The momentum we generated over the last several quarters continued in the first quarter. Our value propositions helped to drive strong receivables, deposit, and revenue growth,” said Margaret Keane, President and Chief Executive Officer of Synchrony Financial. “We are pleased with our organic growth and business development results. We continued to extend major partnerships, signed several new programs across our platforms, and launched compelling promotions to help our partners drive sales growth.”

Bitcoin and the Cypherpunks - Reason.com - "Decentralized peer-to-peer marketplaces became technically possible only in 2009, when a shadowy figure calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto gave the world a new form of virtual currency called Bitcoin. More than just a new form of money, Bitcoin is also a protocol, or system for managing information, that has the capacity to undergird—and revolutionize—much of the Internet."

U.S. Consumer Holdings and Use of $1 Bills - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston - "This report examines the $1 bill holdings of adults in the United States using data from the Diary of Consumer Payments Choice (DCPC)."

Target Announces Settlement Agreement with MasterCard - Scott Kennedy, President, Financial & Retail Services at Target, stated “We are hopeful that Target’s agreement to pay up to $19 million to settle the claims of MasterCard and its issuers will result in a high level of issuer acceptance. Target intends to continue to defend itself vigorously against any assessments made by MasterCard on behalf of MasterCard issuers that do not accept their offers.”

PayPal: Strong American Dollar Driving European Travel - “Our research found that one in five (21 percent) of Americans are considering a trip to Europe and nearly half of those travelers cite the strengthening dollar as a factor in their decision-making (47 percent),” said Carey Kolaja, Vice President, Head of Global Consumer Products at PayPal. “Yet, for many, international travel is still a daunting concept – shrouded by the mysteries of currency exchange rates, foreign transaction fees and financial safety. As a leading global payments processor, PayPal is uniquely positioned to help alleviate concerns, making planning a trip to Europe as simple, seamless and secure as going to the local grocery store.”

Target Nears Settlement With MasterCard Over Data Breach - Wall St. Journal - "The $20 million covers costs that banks incurred to reissue credit cards and debit cards as a result of the breach, as well as some of the fraud that resulted from the exposure of customer information..."

AmEx, Jawbone Team Up to Allow Payments Via Fitness Bands - Wall St. Journal - "Like Apple’s payment system for its mobile phone and smartwatch, the Jawbone feature will only work at brick-and-mortar merchants whose check-out terminals are equipped with a technology called near-field communication, or NFC."

NCR Signals Massive Makeover to Banking with Highly Secure Cloud-Based ATM Software Platform - “NCR’s Kalpana software is the most disruptive change to the ATM ecosystem in decades. Business and consumer applications are increasingly turning to enterprise or cloud-based solutions that reshape security and enable fast, nimble and dynamic customer experiences,” said Andy Heyman, president, NCR Financial Services. “Kalpana software is ideal for financial institutions and independent ATM deployers looking to improve security, quickly advance service delivery through technology, and reshape their cost to serve.”

Trustonic and Mobeewave Partner to Provide Unprecedented Security Level in Mobile Payment - "Up to now mPOS solutions have not completely secured the interaction with consumers on mobile devices unless merchants used add-on devices. Now, just by downloading the Mobeewave mPOS application into merchant mobile devices supporting the Trustonic technology, the consumers will be able to securely tap their contactless card or smartphone against the merchant’s mobile device. The Trustonic TEE technology secures the interaction with the cardholder on the merchant’s device itself by leveraging the Trusted User Interface."

CardinalCommerce Adds Bitcoin to Merchant Payments Solution - CoinDesk - "The announcement is the result of a partnership betweenCardinalCommerce and bitcoin merchant processor Bitnetthat enables merchants with custom-built shopping carts to send API messages to Cardinal's platform through its One Connection service."

Federal Reserve survey provides information on mobile financial services - "The use of mobile phones to access bank accounts, credit cards, or other financial accounts continued to increase among adults in the United States last year, according to a Federal Reserve Board report, Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2015. The report is the Board's fourth looking at how consumers access banking services using mobile phones ("mobile banking"), and their payments for goods and services using mobile phones ("mobile payments"), as well as their use of mobile phones to inform their shopping decisions."

TSYS CIO Ken Tye To Retire - "During Tye’s tenure, in the mid-1990’s, he led a team responsible for building TS2, still considered the industry’s most technologically advanced payment processing system in the market today. Most recently, Tye has led the team creating a more open technology environment to power TSYS’ next generation of digital innovation and consumer servicing."

Don't believe the hype on Apple Pay says MasterCard global chief - Sydney Morning Herald - "Instead of being disrupted, the incumbent payment network, along with fellow global giants Visa and American Express, has so far remained integral to the numerous tech players' push into payments – including Apple, Samsung and Google's Android – and they are assisting its growth."

AmEx’s Chenault Aims to Overcome Setbacks - Wall St. Journal - "On Wednesday, Mr. Chenault will outline his strategy for the firm for the first time sincelosing a key court case and a lucrative 16-year partnership with Costco Wholesale Corp."

Pay with OpenTable Now Available for Android - "Millions of diners use our apps to discover and book the perfect table," said Jocelyn Mangan, OpenTable Senior Vice President, Product Management. "We're excited to provide Android users with a payment experience that is intuitive and integrated into the OpenTable app they know and love."

ShopKeep Launches Integrated Payments - "ShopKeep Payments will be a new division of ShopKeep, and will leverage technology from Payment Revolution, an independent sales organization and a full service credit card processing firm that specializes in custom solutions. ShopKeep Payments will also offer best-in-class residual payouts to its interested, certified value-added resellers and referral partners"

Understanding and Improving Consumer Financial Health in America - Center for Financial Services Innovation - "This research explores the state of financial health in America in a groundbreaking examination of consumer behaviors, attitudes, and preferences. In it, we define seven consumer financial health segments based on a combination of behaviors and attitudes, offering an analysis that goes beyond income, age, education, or credit score."

Optimal Payments to Acquire Digital Payments Rival - "Optimal Payments said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire the digital payment service Skrill Group in a cash-and-share deal that values the business at 1.1 billion euros, or about $1.2 billion."

The New York BitLicense and California’s Digital Currency Bill – A Comparison - CoinCenter - "All in all, I’m optimistic that we’ll see progress in both New York and California. Each wants to be a leader in the exploding new FinTech space, they face increasing competition from the UK and other international jurisdictions, and they have each been quite receptive to input from those of us the cryptocurrency ecosystem."

Fiserv Completes First Tokenized Transactions via Accel Debit Payments Network - “Fiserv offers one of the first debit payment networks to enable tokenization, which is required for transactions such as those conducted using Apple Pay™,” said Kevin Gregoire, president, Financial Institutions Group, Fiserv. “Apple Pay is just one example of the rapid changes in the payments landscape, and it is important for Fiserv to equip our clients to deliver the capabilities consumers expect at an accelerated pace. We anticipate that tokenization will play an increasing role in the debit payments industry and Accel is well positioned to accommodate further developments.”

American Express Announces New Co-Brand Relationship with Charles Schwab - “We look forward to working closely with Charles Schwab to develop a strong value proposition for the new cards,” said Josh Silverman, president of Consumer Products & Services for American Express. “The partnership is designed to generate positive economics over time for our shareholders, and allow our mutual customers to benefit from a relationship with two leading financial services brands.”

GlobeOne partners with InvestaBank and Bankaool to bring new mobile banking network to Mexico - “Only 45% of the population in Mexico has a bank account, which is why this partnership is an exciting development for Mexican consumers,” said Michael Wolper, GlobeOne member and Chief Marketing Officer. “Through GlobeOne’s growing global network, consumers will have access to the basic financial services necessary to build a strong financial future, and banks will have a new platform to serve the many digitally connected Mexican consumers who do not participate in the traditional, brick-and-mortar banking system.”

American Express has announced Plenti - calling it "the first U.S.-based coalition loyalty program."

AT&T, ExxonMobil, Macy’s, Nationwide, Rite Aid, Direct Energy and Hulu are joining with American Express to launch the program where consumers can earn and use Plenti points for purchasing a wide range of products, regardless of the payment method consumers choose to use. Amex said the program will officially launch this spring and is expected to include more brands in additional categories.

Recent research indicates that nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of Americans say they would prefer a rewards program that allows them to shop at many stores versus a single brand. Plenti is designed to address that need, giving consumers options to earn points and additional value through special offers and product discounts. Plenti will be free to join, and consumers can earn points and discounts using any form of payment accepted by the participating brands, including cash, prepaid and any debit, charge or credit card.

“This is a perfect time for a coalition loyalty program in the U.S., as online marketing becomes more efficient and American consumers become more accustomed to rewards programs, special offers and discounts,” said Ed Gilligan, president at American Express. “With American Express’ deep experience with the Membership Rewards® program and acquisition of Loyalty Partner in 2011, we are the right company to operate a loyalty program of this scale, involving such celebrated brands.”

Openbay, Online Marketplace for Auto Repair, Now Supports Apple Pay - “Openbay remains the only nationwide mobile and web app for consumers to search for, compare mechanics, book an appointment and pay for auto repair,” said Rob Infantino, founder and CEO. “With Apple Pay, we continue to innovate and maintain a first-mover advantage for vehicle repair. The perceived nuisance of getting one’s car or truck serviced is becoming virtually frictionless.”

PAR Expands Mobile Point of Sale (POS) Solutions for Restaurant and Retail - “The addition of the PAR Tablet 5 and PAR Tablet POS underscores and reinforces our commitment to bring the best POS solutions to market for our customers,” said Karen E. Sammon, President of ParTech, Inc. “Mobile POS is one of the fastest growing trends in the restaurant and retail space and today’s announcement will help our customers provide better guest experiences in the course of their business.”

Visa to Acquire TrialPay - "Acquiring TrialPay will dramatically strengthen our ability to offer merchants a way to send highly-customized, real-time offers to consumers. To-date, more than 500 million users and 10,000 merchants in 180 countries have used TrialPay, generating hundreds of millions of new transactions for merchants big and small."

Ecuador launches new digital currency – but most residents know little about it - Guardian - "As with other mobile payment programmes, text messages will allow users to make payments to other accounts, but what makes this plan different is that this is the first time a national government will have full control; everything from the creation of new units to securing the system against attack will be managed by the Central Bank of Ecuador."

Visa to Acquire TrialPay - "As a payments technology partner to merchants globally, Visa will integrate TrialPay into its product portfolio as a simple, cost-effective way to help merchants acquire customers, drive traffic, and increase sales by reaching Visa cardholders with targeted offers."

CaixaBank develops new biometrics-based financial services - "CaixaBank launches the first application in Europe to support online banking transactions using voice commands. This represents the bank’s first service to explore the possibilities offered by biometrics to enhance customer interaction with banking channels."

American Express Adds New Benefits to Premier Rewards Gold Card - “We’re making one of our most popular cards even better. This latest investment for our Premier Rewards Gold Card Members is designed to deepen our relationship by providing more value in the areas they spend most -- from everyday spending on things like gas and groceries, to dining and larger travel purchases,” said Lisa Durocher, SVP, Consumer Charge Cards & Benefits at American Express.

A Different Type of Start Up: Payments in Afghanistan - PaymentsViews.com (Elizabeth McQuerry) - "This is an inspiring story of bankers striving towards greater financial inclusion for their country’s citizens while building the base for electronic payments. The pay off here will almost certainly require years to be realized."

PayPal Holdings files Form 10 with the SEC - Late yesterday afternoon, PayPal Holdings filed its Form 10 information about the PayPal spinout process from eBay, details on PayPal’s stand-alone financials, and on the operating agreements between PayPal and eBay going forward.

Inside PayPal's Microlending Program - Entrepreneur - "Since launching the Working Capital program, PayPal has paid out more than $200 million, granting some 35,000 loans to 20,000 U.S. small businesses. Last fall, PayPal expanded the program to the U.K. and Australia."

Credit cards in America - Slowing charge - Economist - "Nonetheless, there are signs that the go-go years are gone: growth is tapering off, the margins received on lending are declining, and the cost of attracting customers is rising—even though America’s economy is on the up."

Boku Introduces “Phone-on-File” to Compete with Credit Cards on One-Time and Subscription Based Purchases - “A key element to the strength of companies like Amazon and Apple has been their ability to create frictionless checkout experiences using stored credit card information,” said Jon Prideaux, Boku CEO. “This is that same experience that Boku is bringing to the mobile phone number with Phone-on-File. Our goal is to make stored ‘phone-on-file’ every bit as powerful as a ‘card-on-file’ for the benefit of our merchant partners.”

Visa Partners with Financial Institutions Across the Globe to Enable Mobile Payment Services - “2015 is the year in which fast and safe mobile payments based on Visa technology will proliferate across the world,” said Sam Shrauger, senior vice president of digital solutions at Visa Inc. “We are very proud that Visa’s Digital Solution is now accessible to the broader market to be used across multiple devices and form factors – enabling secure, fast and engaging commerce experiences in any environment.”

CARDFREE Reaches Over 2 Million Consumers on Platform and Expands to International Markets - “With our team’s pedigree in the QSR space, we’ve been able to gain the largest competitive market share with top-50 QSRs in relatively short order,” explained Jon Squire, founder and chief executive officer of CARDFREE. “We’re excited to add international markets into the mix and to broaden our reach to other high volume verticals such as convenience and grocery."

Box Brings Financial Services Industry Securely to the Cloud - “Because of the highly sensitive nature of the data it deals with and the strict compliance standards it’s held to, the Financial Services industry has been slow to embrace cloud and mobile technologies,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO, Box. “However, leading firms are recognizing that mature cloud platforms not only offer agility and productivity, but also an opportunity for better security and visibility around their most valuable content. With Box for Financial Services, we’re making sure security and compliance concerns are no longer hurdles to information sharing and collaboration.”

First Data Appoints Dan Charron as Executive Vice President, Global Business Solutions - “For nearly a quarter century, I’ve admired First Data from many angles, as competitor, joint venture partner, client, vendor, and now as part the team working to transform the business,” said Dan Charron. “I look forward to working across multiple functions and geographies to provide First Data’s six million clients across the world with the products, services and solutions they need to grow their business,” Charron added.

Verifi Adds Chris Derossi as New Chief Technology Officer - "Derossi brings a wealth of technology and payments experience to his new position at Verifi. Most recently, he was Chief Technology Officer at Ultimate Gaming, where he launched the first regulated and licensed online poker site in the United States."

Sisense Appoints Amir Orad Chief Executive Officer - "I am very excited to be appointed as the new CEO of Sisense and lead its winning team," said Mr. Orad. "Sisense is a successful innovative company with great people, cutting-edge technologies, and a fast growing loyal customer base. I am a big believer in the significant opportunity presented by the availability of massive amounts of complex data and how data driven companies can unlock great value from such information using Sisense's technology."

Amex’s Loss in Court May Not Help Consumers - New York Times Dealbook - "The result, at best, will be that fees will come down for retailers but they will pocket the difference and simply end up with bigger profits."

MasterCard Drives Host Card Emulation (HCE) Momentum with Mobile Payment Deployments in More than 15 Countries - “Our vision for digital payments is to create great experiences for consumers across all channels and all devices, and HCE and cloud-based software provide another path forward for MasterCard and our partners to deliver on that vision,” said James Anderson, Group Head and Senior Vice President, Shared Platform Services at MasterCard. “The approach will drive greatly expanded availability of mobile contactless and remote payments, through integration with MasterPass, our global digital platform.”

For Finsphere, 'Mobile As Identity' Is Its Reason For Being - "Finsphere CEO Michael Buhrmann said Visa's MLC represents the first major commercial application of the "mobile as identity" concept. On a global basis, the value of this type of confirmation to banks and other issuers of credit and debit cards is estimated to exceed $3 billion annually for their handling of legitimate transactions that are denied unnecessarily because of suspected fraud."

Visa Europe: Payment tokenisation service launched - Sandra Alzetta, Executive Director, Core Products for Visa Europe commented: “This is an exciting time to be in the payment industry. We believe that 2015 will be the year that mobile payments will be in the hands of consumers across Europe. Tokenisation is one of the most important technologies to emerge in digital payments and has the potential to start a whole new chapter in the kinds of products that are developed. For that reason, we’ve designed this flexible and scalable service, enabling issuers, merchants and acquirers to provide consumers with the next generation of innovative payment methods – all with the high level of security they expect.”

Visa Europe: Global expansion of peer-to-peer payments capabilities - "Visa Europe has partnered with Singapore-based fastacash to enable a new feature for member banks to extend to their customers. This new social feature makes it easy for Visa Direct users to send peer-to-peer payments via social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and LinkedIn."

American Express Loses Antitrust Suit Over Merchant Rules - Bloomberg - "AmEx failed to show that its so-called non-discrimination provisions, imposed on merchants who agree to accept its card, don’t harm competition, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn said in his ruling Thursday."

NPCI launches Unified Payments Interface - Livemint - "Any kind of payment, including for shopping and paying taxi fares, can be done using an application downloaded on a smartphone once all banks adopt the system. The pilot project will be launched in about four-five months, managing director and chief executive officer A.P. Hota said."

Stanford DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series: Putting Startup Success in Perspective - John Collison (Stripe) - "John Collison, co-founder and president of the online payment system Stripe, explains how even the most celebrated startups repeatedly encountered uncertainty and failures along the way. In conversation with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Collison shares his thoughts on how a venture's path can evolve after its early days, even as the vision holds constant."

US Treasury announces partnership with digital wallet providers PayPal, Dwolla for online payments - "The goal of these partnerships is to expand the options customers have for transactions with the Federal Government, providing customers greater choice and a better customer experience. For example, customers required to submit a court filing fee at a U.S. Court, or citizens who wish to make a donation to the National Endowment of the Arts, will have similar payment options currently available to them on popular private sector websites."

NPCI initiates an ecosystem for Unified Payments Interface - "National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organization for all retail payment system in India, has taken up a new initiative of implementing “Unified Payment Interface” to simplify and provide a single interface across all systems. The new interface is designed to enable all account holders to send and receive money from their smartphones with a single identifier – Aadhaar number, mobile number, virtual payments address – without entering any bank account information."

Branch Banking Remains Prevalent Despite the Growth of Online and Mobile Banking - "The study identifies four main factors that have influenced the number and distribution of banking offices over time: population growth, banking crises, legislative changes to branching laws, and technological innovation. In terms of technological change, there is little evidence that the emergence of new electronic channels for delivering banking services has substantially diminished the need for traditional branch offices where banking relationships are built."

FIS Demonstrates Caliber of Information Security with New ISO Certification - As FIS’ certification states with respect to meeting this standard: “The FIS ISMS supports the operations of strategic data centers by providing a secure and sustainable computing environment to support global financial institutions and commercial clients through the implementation of secure practices and work relationships with supporting functions.”

In the age of the internet, is it the poor who will be poorer? - Financial Services Club Blog - "In this age of machine-to-machine connectivity and communication, the whole nature of hazard changes from the traditional moral hazard of where you live to the new connectivity hazard of how well your assets are plugged into the network."

Visa Launches Mobile Location Service to Improve Card Payment Experience When Traveling - “Wherever you are in the world, we want Visa transactions to be the most secure, convenient and seamless payment choice,” said Mark Nelsen, senior vice president of risk products and business intelligence, Visa Inc. “By matching the location of the cardholder through a cell phone or other mobile device, to the location of the purchase, Visa’s new service will enable banks to feel more confident about authorizing a transaction that might otherwise have been declined due to suspicion of fraud.”

SWIFT Institute announces research agenda for 2015 - "SWIFT is uniquely placed to bridge the gap between academic thinking and the financial services industry, leveraging topics of mutual interest," said Peter Ware, Director, SWIFT Institute at SWIFT. "Since the launch of the Institute, we have made great progress in achieving this goal and will continue to do so with new research in 2015 focused on topics of global importance. Our aim is to help the global financial community better understand and manage the obstacles it is facing through new research and greater dialogue at events."

Apple on privacy, security and identity - Benedict Evans - "But if Apple did connect the dots to create an identity product, and could remove enough friction and pain to make it compelling, then talking about privacy would make much more sense, because at that point privacy, security and identity become part of the same product conversation."

Small Banks Score Gains in Lifting Regulation - Wall St. Journal - "Since the 2010 Dodd-Frank law ushered in a spate of new regulations, community bankers have fanned out across Washington to emphasize the differences between small “Main Street” banks focused on local lending and Wall Street firms they say are fixated on transaction volume."

Does Bitcoin still matter? - CBS News - "Bitcoin has a sales job to getting people to trust it, which is ironic because it was set up to be a trustless system," said Paul Vigna...

Cash Is Definitely Not King For Card-Carrying Swedes - NPR - "Around the world, cash is fading. Electronic transactions are becoming a bigger part of the economy every year. And one of the leaders in this trend is Sweden, where more than 95 percent of transactions are digital."

On the Wires:

Visa Inc. Appoints Vasant M. Prabhu as Chief Financial Officer - “After a thorough global search, we are thrilled to have Vasant join the Visa leadership team,” said Charlie Scharf, Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. “Vasant is a seasoned executive with a wealth of experience across a wide range of global businesses. His financial leadership, operational abilities, strategic focus and global mindset will be extraordinarily valuable to us, as we continue to grow our business around the world.”

ETA Launches Digital Currency Showcase at TRANSACT 15 - "ETA is at the forefront of payments technology, and TRANSACT 15 is our industry's most important event," said Jason Oxman, CEO of ETA. "With the launch of our World of Bitcoin showcase, and our partnership with BitPay to accept bitcoin payments, TRANSACT 15 is now the place to be for digital currency in 2015."

ATMIA Releases the Results of Its New ATM Channel EMV Readiness Survey - "One of the key findings of the survey is that, as of the end of 2014, 65% of respondents report having at least one ATM capable of handling EMV transactions. This is more than a four-fold increase over the April, 2013 results, which found that only 12% of operators could make that claim. Further, 61% of all operators anticipate that by the end of 2016, which is the general timeframe of the first domestic liability shift for ATM acquirers, the vast majority of their ATMs will be capable of handling EMV transactions."

Millennials Make 2015 the Year of the Milestone - "It’s been widely reported that for many Millennials, “30 is the new 20,” with many delaying major life milestones, like full-time employment, marriage and having children. However, recent data from the American Express Spending & Saving Tracker suggests that as the economy continues to recover, Millennials will make 2015 a year of major purchases and life experiences."

U.S. Bank Announces 2015 "Dynamic Dozen" - “We place tremendous value on the potential of the millennial generation and this group is instrumental in making U.S. Bank relevant to current and future millennial customers and employees,” said Kent Stone, vice chairman of consumer banking for U.S. Bancorp, and one of the program’s executive sponsors.